TALES from much-loved grandparents who met at historic Endsleigh Manor provided the inspiration for 'Echoes at Endsleigh' by Jane Nancarrow, reviewed for the Times by

Ted Sherrell

IT is a well known fact that location is a crucial factor when calculating the desirability — and value, of course — of a house.

The right setting, though, is also an important aid to the appeal of a novel; if such a location is coupled with an enjoyable, attention gripping plot, and the writing is of high quality, then the finished product is something to savour.

'Echoes of Endsleigh' falls within this category — with ease.

Jane Nancarrow, in this follow-up novel to her successful debut book, 'Stones and Shadows', has penned a novel which intrigues, grips and leaves the reader wanting more.

The tale's main location is the atmospheric Endsleigh House, perched high above the Tamar on the Devon side, for centuries the summer house of the Dukes of Bedford, now a prestigious hotel.

The storyline is refreshingly original, and in the hands of this perceptive, lucid author, one which, while at times mildly fanciful, never relinquishes a sound hold on reality, thus making it a tale which is enjoyable, interesting and, ultimately, perfectly believable.

The central character, Janna, seeking a fresh start, goes to work at Hotel Endsleigh, living in. By a remarkable coincidence she finds that her great-grandmother was once a housemaid at Endsleigh during the Edwardian era, thanks to the discovery of the diaries of that good lady, Bessie by name.

The descriptive — at times vivid — accounts of episodes in the life, more than a century before, of Bessie, dominate increasingly Janna's mind and imagination, and inexorably she is drawn back into the history of the old house, into the life and experiences of her forbear, and finds her own life influenced by these shadows of the past.

Born in Launceston, Jane Nancarrow's narrative involves Cornwall's ancient capital as well at Endsleigh on the Devon side, and her descriptive writing of both bring a further positive dimension to the story — especially for folk who live in the Tamar valley and its environs.

An accomplished short story writer — she won the 2008 Gorsedd prize for such a tale set in Cornwall — the author clearly has leaps the, at times, yawning gap between the short tale and the novel, with some ease; her first novel suggested such, and the second, well crafted and warmly evocative of the particular ambience of the Tamar Valley, confirms it.

'Echoes of Endsleigh' by Jane Nancarrow ISBN 978-0-9563990-5-2 is available at £8.50.